as undoubtedly killed when he landed, and I think he
was a sailor."

"Have you found anything which makes you think so?"

"Nothing but what you see before you. That break in the skull was, in my
opinion, made by contact with a rock; furthermore, several of the bones
were broken, as you see, at the time he met with his calamity; and one
of the legs shows where it was broken before his death, and had mended."

It was a remarkable funeral cortege which wended its way slowly back
over the hills to their home. They felt it was paying a tribute to a
friend and companion. All doubts on their part had been dispelled. He
had been one of their companions on that terrible night when the
explosion had sent their ship to the bottom, and had cast them adrift on
a sea which welcomed them in raging fury.

"What shall we do with the skeleton?"

The Professor was silent a long time before he answered. "I do not know
what to advise. Perhaps, in the future fate may be kind enough to
restore us to our homes and friends, and if it should be that we are the
only ones so rescued, the skeleton would be a positive means of enabling
us to ascertain whether or not he was one of our companions, and also to
advise his friends."

A stone sarcophagus was built, in which the remains were deposited after
a funeral service at which the Professor presided.

This event had a most depressing influence on the boys, as well it
might, during the entire day, and it was the principal topic of their
conversation while together. During the two days following only brief
references were made to the Professor, but the second evening George's
inquisitive nature could not hold in any longer.

"When we were on the rocks examining the skeleton, you referred to the
fourth and the sixth ages of man."

"Yes; in point of growth man has seven ages. The first is infancy, which
ends at the second year; second, the age which ends at the seventh year;
third, at the end of fourteen years; fourth, at the end of twenty-two
years; fifth, at the end of forty-seven years; sixth, at the end of
sixty-five years; and seventh, which ends at death. These divisions vary
somewhat between males and females, and I have given you merely the
average between the two sexes."

"I can't help feeling sad, when I think of the things that have
happened, and at the thought that all our friends may have been lost."

"Sadness is a natural feeling under the circumstances, but after all,
why sho